Updates! *01/15* I had originally intended on keeping it short, but due to reader enthusiasm, here is a master version. Each contribution was appreciated, you freaks rock.

As an addition to the goth/post-punk/alt band masterpost, here’s a list of bands featuring members of color. Most are influential, others new discoveries or future freak gods. Thanks to research and helpful readers, here’s a bit of sick sound suitable for all taste buds:

Goth, dark or industrial:

Creature Feature– Erik X is an evil composer and organ player with a special gift for raising the dead.

Plastique Noir-the Brazilian band that made the song “Empty Streets” that’s just too dark to handle.

O. Children – contrary to popular belief, Tobi O’Kandi is not, in fact, a black reincarnation of Ian Curtis.

Dev Hynes – a British musician who started out in a punk band Test Icicles then went solo as a folk/indie musician as Lightspeed Champion and now is doing an electronic/R&B thing as Blood Orange.

L’Arc-en-Ciel – Okay, so these guys are Japan’s other most famous export. These guys got known outside of japan for doing some major anime theme songs (Fullmetal Alchemist, Gundam 00, NANA live action movie, etc) and were the first Japanese act to headline Madison Square Garden (Japanese rock bands really like New York for some reason). Their bassist tetsuya (formally known as tetsu) gets bonus points for being one of Japan’s only out LGBT celebrities (he’s Bi).

Tenger Cavalry – a folk metal band based out of Bejing who describe their style as “Mongolian folk metal”. Like this and you’d probably enjoy Ego Fall.

Cthonic – Taiwanese metal band who’s lead singer is also the president for the Taiwanese branch of Amnesty International.Most of their music deals with their goal of an independent Taiwan and they’re really REALLY great.

Body Count– Ice T’s metal band rules. It would be a little tastier with ice cubes though.

Hirax – pioneering thrash/speed metal band (with hardcore influences). Katon De Pena is one of the most distinctive vocalists of the then-burgeoning California metal scene. Though they never achieved the success of some of their contemporaries like Metallica or Slayer, they have long been an insiders’ favorite and cited as an influence by bands ranging from Napalm Death to Cannibal Corpse to Darkthrone.

X Japan – Probably Japan’s most famous metal export. These guys are the reason Visual Kei (basically Japan’s gothic metal scene) exists. All those flashy JRock bands wouldn’t exist without X Japan. They also recently just played a huge show at Madison Square Garden.

Maximum the Hormone – Also known as “the guys that did that weird opening and ending to death note”, MTH do a fantastic combination of metal, punk, and even pop. The best part about MTH is that their lyrics don’t make sense even when translated so you can just have mindless fun listening to them even if you understand Japanese.

Suffocation – one of the most influential death metal acts of all time. Terrance Hobbs’ incredible mastery of the guitar allowed the band to blend complex technicality into the genre without sacrificing raw brutality.

Acrassicauda – Iraqi heavy metal. There is a film called “Heavy Metal in Baghdad”, about the band. Another documentary called Global Metal, which is by the same director as Heavy Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, is highly recommended.

Sigh – one of the first japanese black mack metal bands led by a fierce lady.

BIS (Brand-New Idol Society) – considered “alternative Japanese idols”, and have done some amazing things including recruiting a new member who was rumored to be a high school girl and turned out to be Junko Koshino, a famous fashion designer who is 74 yrs old. Their song + video for MURA-MURA is excellent.

Go Betty Go – chicano rock, “pop punk”. Several of their songs are in Spanish.

ELLEGARDEN – JAPAN’S BEST 90s/EARLY 2000s POP PUNK ROCK EXPORT I’M NOT EVEN KIDDING. Part of what contributes to this is Takeshi Hosomi (singer/rhythm guitarist) writing ¾ of the band’s discography in perfect english. Unfortunately they went on hiatus in 2006, but that spawned two more fantastic bands: Takeshi does experimental progressive indie in the HIATUS (its the same guy I swear), and guitarist Shinichi Ubukata formedNothing’s Carved In Stone which is basically a Japanese alt. rock supergroup.

Shonen Knife – you can’t talk about japanese girl rock without the literal originators of the movement/popularity. Because Kurt Cobain said he listened them, a HUGE surge of all girl bands started popping up over Japan.

I was going to cover my dashboard with Fefe Dobson. But then I changed the plan. I decided to rant a little. But my rant was starting to get crazy so I changed the plan again. It started when I saw quite a few posts about how no one could think of a woman of color singing rock & roll. The voice in my head immediately sounded like Alex Trebek;

Question: American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in rock earned her the title The Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Answer: WHO IS TINA TURNER?

Now instead of the rant about how rock music started in the black community, and how it makes me sad that people think that rock music ‘belongs’ to whites, I’m just gonna throw you some names other than Fefe that rock.

Grace Jones-Grace, Grace, Grace, where do I start? Singer, model actress, complete icon. Some people might not consider her a rock musician, but if she ain’t a rocker, I don’t know who is. Listen to: Private Life and Corporate Cannibal.

Jada Pinkett Smith- She fronts a metal band called Wicked Wisdom. She growls out like the best of ’em, and while she’s not a perfect singer, it’s like Iced-T once said, “Who can sing in rock ‘n’ roll?“ Listen to: Bleed All Over Me and Forgiven

Felony Melody- Fronts the band Objex. You should see her mohawk, and her voice is powerful and punk. She melts me. Listen to: Eat This

Santi White AKA Santogold- The girl is pure rock in my opinion, but with her band Stiffed, she’s seen in the traditional rock band. Listen to: Hold Tight

Shingai Shoniwa- Fronts the Noisettes. If Iggy Pop and Billie Holiday had a baby, it’d be Shingai. There are no words that can express my love. Listen to: EVERYTHING! Lol, but go ahead and start with Sister Rosetta, Don’t Upset The Rhythm, and their cover of When You Were Young

Danielia Cotton- A fucking beautiful voice. If you like classic rock, you’ll like Danielia. She’s opened for B.B. King and Lynyrd Skynyrd, how awesome is that? Listen to: Let It Ride, Make U Move, and Running

Sophia Ramos- Where do I start? She is a true rock goddess, I don’t want to give another baby analogy, but if Led Zeppelin and Janis Joplin had a baby = Sophia. She’s got an emotional, soulful, take no prisoners voice. Amaaazzzzinnng. Listen to: Torn Down, Freedom is Over, and Shining Still

Janelle Monáe- I consider her a rocker. I think she is progressive and psychedelic. Dude, she’s singing about a girl named Blueberry Mary, fairy gods, the words of Dhammapada, and coming alive like a schizo running wild, all while telling the story of an android in love with a human. Dude, it’s a fucking rock opera. She’s rock & roll. Listen to: Come Alive, Cold War, and Sir Greendown.

I think I reblogged this before, but it seems to have grown more awesome-r so reblogging again. Will tag later.

Mister me. Ego queen. Struts around me. Painted jeans. All I wanted was someone to rely on. I see You. You don’t see me. Nothing burns like Your empathy. All I wanted someone safe to lean on. I will stay, but You should leave. You go find what You looking for (…) come back to me. All I wanted was You

I don’t want to write “nice little lyrics,” that wouldn’t be me. I am who I am and I don’t mince words, take it or leave it. As a black lesbian, I’m hardly the girl next door, more like the living nightmare of every conservative suburban house owner with a neat little garden. I really don’t care. If they don’t like me, fine. I can live with it and I don’t force myself on them, but I refuse to shut up and I can’t imagine anybody who could shut me up.